MUBC MAY NEWSLETTER 2019 MUBC Committee Welcome to the May 2019 Issue of Elected October 2018 the MUBC Newsletter. Quite a lot has happened since our last Newsletter, so President Christian Ryan this is a bumper edition. It is the Club’s Vice President Minnie Cade plan to be able in the future to update Treasurer Chris Hargreaves you on the various doings at MUBC Secretary Greg Longden Captain Gary Butcher on an approximately quarterly basis. Vice Captain Sarah Ben-David Ordinary member Sandy Marshall Ordinary Member Edward Walmsley New Coaching and Admin Staff Ordinary Member Milla Marston Rowing seems to invite change and this last year has been no exception. Matt Ryan High Performance Coach Part Time Olympic Silver Medalist 2008 James Smith Women’s Development Full Time NSW Coach of the Year 2015 and Club Coach Michael Poulter Men’s Development Coach Part Time U23 World Championships 2013 Ben Board MUBC Academy Manager Part Time Youth Olympic Gold Medalist (UK) John Michelmore, Nick Stephenson and David England generously fill various coaching roles in an honourary capacity. Dan Wallace Operations Manger Full Time Virginia Lee Administrative Assistant Part Time Faith Anderson Finance Officer Part Time Future editions of the Newsletter will feature interviews with these important club officials. 1 \ MAY 2019 2019 Victorian State Championships MUBC saw great success at the 2019 Row- ing Victoria State Championships which took place on the first weekend of March at Nagambie. Beginning with the small boats races early in the day, our first success was seen with a win over Mercantile in a close race for the U23 Men’s pair, which consist- ed of Joe O’Connell and Edward Walms- ley. The dominance continued for Uni in the men’s U21 pair, with MUBC taking the first four places in the A final, including a win for the pair of Harry Fox and Harrison Miller. A solid performance from the male pairs was backed up by a win in the open Gold in the U21 Women’s Pair Crew: Eleanor women’s pair for Georgina Howe and Elise Price and Brigid McKeagney-Douglas. Franetic, as well as wins in the U23 pair for 2019 Victorian State Championships Mila Marston and Georgia Lenton-Williams and U21 pair for Eleanor Price and Brigid McKeagney-Douglas. Jono Hookway took out silver in the open men’s scull. The Gold in the Open dominance over the small boat races con- Women’s 8+ (for tinued for Uni as Katherine Michelmore the first time in took out first place in the Open Women’s 10 years!) Crew: single scull and Charlotte Wirtz brought Sophie Walmsley, Romy Keppel, home gold in the U23 division. The prom- Georgie Howe, ise of MUBC’s junior academy was also dis- Elise Franetic, played with Oliver Miller bringing home Charlotte Wirtz, silver in the Male School Single Scull. Georgia Lenton- Williams, Milla Marston, Katie As the day progressed to larger boats, Michelmore, MUBC continued to prove its dominance, Sarah Ben- winning the Male U21 coxed four, the Fe- David. male U21 coxed four as well as the Fe- 2019 Victorian male open four. In the blue-ribbon Men’s State Championships and Women’s 8s, there was no slowing MUBC’s roll, with the club winning the Female Open 8+, Male Open 8+ and Male U21 8+, with the U21 female 8+ bringing home silver in a tight race with Mercantile. MUBC’s fine form continued on the Sun- day, as the grade races commenced. MUBC took second and third in the Female A pair, as well as silver in the Male A pair. Further performances from our Male D Grade dou- ble-scull, Female A grade four and Female A grade 8 amongst others, ensured MUBC’s medal tally continued to rise, ensuring the club finished atop the medal table with a total medal tally of 26.75, 0.5 ahead of Banks and 8.875 ahead of Mercantile. Gold in the U21 Men’s Eight Crew: Tom Page, Joe O’Connell, Harry Fox, Congratulations to all from MUBC who Harrison Miller, Nick Doughty, Max Cooper, Max Fisher, Rob Corden-McKinley, Rohan raced and helped to ensure the club was 2 \Lavery. MAY 2019 proudly represented over the weekend. 2019 Victorian State Championships Throughout the final week of March, fif- ty-five athletes from MUBC took part in the Sydney International Rowing Re- gatta, which is perhaps better known as 2019 the Australian National Championships. Our group of rowers was the largest from any club in Australia, made up of a mixture of Nationals junior academy, development, elite and club athletes and some mas- ters rowing in open competition. Campaign Whenever possible, MUBC members raced with other MUBC members. This was a com- mendable demonstration of united club spirit, particularly when so much of the competition at Nationals tends to be domi- nated by hand-picked composite crews. The eights races in the final three days of the regatta are a fitting example of this club pride. The Under 23 Men’s Eight (with a guest appearance from UTS rower Nick Lavery) won in an impressive time of 5:39.18, while anoth- er entirely MUBC eight came seventh in the same race. The Under 23 Women’s Eight put in a brave effort, only to lose a medal posi- tion by 0.2 of a second . There was less than a second between second, third and fourth. The Open Women’s Eight came second to a National Training Centre composite crew in a time of 7:21.16. Coxswain Sarah Ben- David said that “We always love racing as a full MUBC crew, even when the other en- tries are composites - I guess that’s what they have to do if they want to beat us.” There were other excellent performances in other crew boats and small boats in the ini- tial days of the regatta, including wins in the Open Men’s pair, U23 Men’s and Women’s Pairs. MUBC was the leading Victorian club on the Total Medal tally at the end of the week and third overall. While the results reflect our The Open Men’s Pair of Simon Keenan and Joshua Booth high level of performance as a club, they don’t Nationals 2019 express the smaller, individual experiences that participants take away from Nationals. The Open Women’s Four of Georgie Howe, Katie Michelmore, Elise Franetic and Lucy Stephan Nationals 2019 Open Men's Quad of Josh Booth, Simon Keenan, Karsten Forster- ling, Jono Hookway – Silver (the only “club” crew) Nationals 2019 3 \ MAY 2019 Australian Rowing Team Trials 2019 March 8th to 15th saw MUBC’s current top rowers competing for selection in the 2019 Austral- ian Rowing team. The club had 9 senior athletes at the trials, including two time Olympians Josh Booth and Karsten Fosterling, Rio Olympian Lucy Stephan and recent Australian senior repre- sentatives Simon Keenan and Alice Arch along with Katie Michelmore, Georgina Howe and two coxswains, Sarah Ben-David and Lachlan Goller. This has been our largest club representation at senior trails in some years. Following 7 days of racing we have 5 MUBC athletes named to represent Australia at World Cups 2 and 3. Josh Booth and Simon Keenan in the men’s sweep squad, Lucy Stephan in the woman’s sweep squad, Karsten Forsterling as men’s sculling reserve and Alice Arch in the lightweight dou- ble scull. Josh, Simon and Lucy had all been members of the newly created National Training Cen- tres based in Canberra and Penrith for the Men and Women respectively. Karsten and Alice trained locally to prepare for the trials under the guidance of MUBC club coaches Matt Ryan and David England and the rest of the club squads. The two World Cups this year in Poznan (June 21st) and Rotterdam (July 12th) will provide rac- ing experience for our crews ahead of the World Championships in Linz from the 25th August. This year’s World Championships also doubles as the Olympic Qualification regatta for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and so is a vital year for our Australian Team members. Confirmation of World Champi- onships team members will occur based on performances at the World Cups. We look forward to following our MUBC Australian representatives as they progress through their international prepa- ration and racing. To follow the racing at the World Cup and World Championship regattas go to http://www.worldrowing.com on the dates above. MUBC Celebrates Four Milestones On Friday 30th August, the Club is hosting a dinner at the splendid Plaza Ballroom under the Regent Theatre at the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets celebrating: The 160th anniversary of the founding of MUBC which occurred on 3rd September 1859. The 100th anniversary of the Peace Regatta won by the No. 1 AIF crew stroked by Dr. Clive Disher, former Captain. Coach, President and Patron of MUBC on 5th July 1919. The 50th anniversary of the founding of MULRC with rowing commencing in 1968 and affiliation with MU Sports Union in 1970. The 20th anniversary of the merging of the men’s and women’s rowing clubs under the name of Melbourne University Boat Club on 4th July 1999. Save the date and start organizing reunion tables. Formal invitations will be sent out in due course. 4 \ MAY 2019 MUBC Lunch 40 years ago and more “Remember when we won every race in the season...” On Sunday 27th May 2018 the Club held a lunch for those that rowed at MUBC 40 years ago and more. 86 former “greats” enjoyed an excellent lunch with Will Beedham as guest speaker explaining the MUBC junior program initiated to reach non rowing schools.